Hit the road: Practice, education key for teen drivers

By Andrea Honaker

Published: Monday, September 9, 2013 at 01:19 PM.

Students should ask questions, observe other drivers, and ask their parents to allow them to drive frequently and navigate through high-traffic areas, Chestnut said. Additional driver education courses are also available, such as off-road recovery techniques and defensive driving.

“Everything you need to know with driving is skill. To become a good driver is lifelong learning,” Chestnut said.

COMMON DISTRACTIONS

Chestnut sited these common distractions and problems for teen drivers:

*Texting – Chestnut said texting is the number one distraction.

“They don’t realize that in the time it takes to send a text message, they can cross six lanes of traffic,” he said. “No text is worth the injury, loss of life. Whatever it is can wait.”

* Talking on cellphones– “Just talking on the phone is a distraction. It’s been proven that even if you have the devices which are hands free, it still takes your mind off the driving task. It doesn’t solve all problems,” Chestnut said.

With a new school year under way, another round of high-schoolers is hitting the roadways for the first time. The driving privilege brings newfound freedom for students, but their inexperience behind the wheel can also mean danger.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, car wrecks are the leading cause of death for teenagers in the United States. In 2010, 2,700 16- to 19-year-olds were killed in wrecks and 280,000 were injured. Not all collisions can be avoided, but students can minimize their risk with practice and education.

Practice makes perfect

Fentress Chestnut, managing director of Western North Carolina Driver Education with N.C. Driving School, said every teen up to age 18 is required to take a driver education course, which means 30 hours of class time and at least six hours behind the wheel. He said the courses help create safe and responsible drivers.

With their Limited Learner Permit, students drive with a parent or guardian for 12 months. Then for the next six months, teens can drive alone from 5 a.m. to 9 p.m. with their Limited Provisional License, but they are still required to have a guardian with them at night. After completing these requirements, the Full Provisional License allows them to drive unsupervised at any time.

Chestnut said this graduated license system was established because of the high number of wrecks involving first-time drivers.

Students should ask questions, observe other drivers, and ask their parents to allow them to drive frequently and navigate through high-traffic areas, Chestnut said. Additional driver education courses are also available, such as off-road recovery techniques and defensive driving.

“Everything you need to know with driving is skill. To become a good driver is lifelong learning,” Chestnut said.

COMMON DISTRACTIONS

Chestnut sited these common distractions and problems for teen drivers:

*Texting – Chestnut said texting is the number one distraction.

“They don’t realize that in the time it takes to send a text message, they can cross six lanes of traffic,” he said. “No text is worth the injury, loss of life. Whatever it is can wait.”

* Talking on cellphones– “Just talking on the phone is a distraction. It’s been proven that even if you have the devices which are hands free, it still takes your mind off the driving task. It doesn’t solve all problems,” Chestnut said.

* Passengers – Teens with a limited license technically only are allowed to have one other person younger than 21 in the car with them. Parents should make sure their child isn’t transporting a carload of teens.

* Vehicle controls/devices – It’s easy to get distracted by radios, music players, GPS systems and temperature controls. Students should wait until the vehicle is stopped to deal with these.

* Speed– “For a teen, the world moves very fast, and so do they when they get behind the wheel. They never need to drive faster than their skill level will enable them to,” Chestnut said.

* Peer pressure – Peerpressure can cause students to experiment with drugs and alcohol, which should never be combined with driving.

WEATHER

When navigating a car through adverse weather conditions such as fog, snow, sleet and rain, students should scan two to four vehicles in front of them and think ahead, which will give them enough time to react if something happens, Chestnut said.

At night, they need to control their speed and not go faster than they can stop. Headlights only project so far, and drivers need to adapt for the decreased visibility.

“The main thing is they should be thinking about it and making sure that they pay close attention to what’s happening on the highway, and making sure that they don’t driver faster than existing conditions permit,” he said. “(Driver education teachers) try to be a big influence on some of their thinking and actions while they’re in class.”